Dear Editor:
I’ve been staying in Manhattan with a friend since early March, and have often been dismayed to see significant numbers of people walking along the New York City streets without face masks on. Imagine my shock therefore when upon returning to Hoboken and going out last night on the waterfront esplanade, I encountered large numbers of people (perhaps 90 percent) walking around without any kind of face coverings.
Nearly all were younger than myself, which perhaps explains their lack of concern about infecting others during this epidemic. Where are the city authorities and law enforcement personnel while this is going on? If it’s not illegal, at least the city should have some personnel out and about to monitor the situation, hand out masks, and remind people that they should still be wearing them. Otherwise, Hoboken residents will end up suffering from a surge of Covid cases now that the warm weather is here.
People seem to be thinking that the worst is over and they can resume their normal behavior. To make things worse for us, many people from outside Hoboken are flocking to our waterfront parks and from what I’ve observed, they don’t seem to be particularly mindful that there is still an epidemic going on.
A lot of attention is being paid to reopening restaurants and other business establishments, but there seems to be little or no concern about dense crowds of people on the waterfront or our main thoroughfares (and they are dense) walking in close proximity to others without any effort to cover their faces or maintain social distancing. Mayor Bhalla, please take some action!
Mark Orman
